Plasma immunisation therapy to treat Covid-19 patients starting soon: JPMC

Technique is used when there is insufficient time for the body to develop its own immune response

KARACHI: The Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) will soon start plasma immunisation therapy for coronavirus patients, the institute’s Executive Director Dr Seemi Jamali confirmed on Tuesday

“Today is a good day for us,” Dr Jamali said. “A Memorandum of Understating (MoU) was signed between JPMC and the National Institute of Blood Diseases (NIBD) for the plasma immunisation therapy.”

Head of NIBD Dr Tahir Shamsi said that JPMC has the honour to start the first clinical trials on Covid-19 patients in Karachi.

“A Covid-19 patient would be administered plasma for four hours,” Dr Shamsi said. “The condition of the patient will start to improve after two to four days.”

The therapy would commence after approval of the provincial health secretary. Both doctors signed the MoU on behalf of their hospitals.



Earlier in April, the United States’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) registered the passive immunisation technique NIBD to treat Covid-19 patients.

The technique is used when there is a high risk of infection and insufficient time for the body to develop its own immune response, or to reduce the symptoms of ongoing or immunosuppressive diseases.

Convalescent plasma taken from a recovered patient is believed to be rich in the antibodies needed to fight off the deadly infection.

The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) also earlier approved the passive immunisation technique after NIBD had put forth the suggestion to the  Sindh government